Spence paves way for Excelsior win

Excelsior High, led by a brace from Ryan Spence, scored an easy 4-0 win against a young Tarrant High in the ISSA-FLOW Manning Cup Group B at Excelsior yesterday.

Spence scored in the 19th and 34th minutes, while second-half substitute Voshaw Williams (73rd) and Malik Mills (74th) converted the other goals.

Spence, who played in an attacking midfield role, was naturally elated to put his team in a good position on the way to victory in their first game of the season.

"I feel very happy about the goals, and to help my team start with a win," the 17-year-old told The Gleaner.

"We are happy, but playing a better team, we won't have enough time on the ball and space," he reasoned.

He is looking forward to scoring many goals and guiding Excelsior to the Manning Cup title for the eighth time in the school's history.

"My goal is to win the Manning Cup and gaining a national call, so I want to continue scoring goals," the fifth-form student shared.

Excelsior dominated the game and could have won by a wider margin.

Head coach Shavar Thomas said it was always good to get three points in the first game.

"The most important thing is to start winning. The games will get tough during the season. However, we have to focus on ourselves," Thomas pointed out.

Although outplayed, Tarrant tried hard with players such as goalkeeper Damario Riley, Kevar Martin and Jahiem Hall.

Tarrant's coach Lamar Morgan praised his team of several Under-15 players, for their effort.

"We have a pretty young squad, so it's all about developing the players for the future. The performance was not good, but the boys fought hard," Morgan shared.

Yesterday's Manning Cup results

Greater Portmore 0 Tivoli 0

Excelsior 4 Tarrant 0

Waterford 1 Holy Trinity 0

Mona 1 Charlie Smith 2

Today's games

Kingston College vs Denham Town

Norman Manley vs Ascot

Papine vs St Mary's College

Meadowbrook vs Jonathan Grant

Ardenne vs Haile Selassie

Pembroke Hall vs St Catherine

Wolmer's Boys vs Dunoon

Kingston Technical vs Jose Marti

Camperdown vs Edith Dalton James

Cumberland vs Campion College

St Jago vs Calabar

Bridgeport vs Hydel

(Home teams are named first and all games start at 3:30 p.m.)